Cochlear implant experiences, special education, general tips, and product news. A parent's perspective raising a child with special needs.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Cochlear Implant Troubleshooting Tips For Sound Processor

By Eric Sherman

Have you ever encountered
your sound processor randomly shutting off, constantly flashing red and beeping
or just turning red with a constant beep when powering
on? These indicators may mislead you into believing your
processors are failing ... when in fact, it could be something as simple as a
battery, headpiece or cord problem.

As a parent of a child with
cochlear implants, we often found ourselves replacing the processors when it wasn't always necessary. Here are some simple troubleshooting tips you can
try prior to contacting your audiologist or CI manufacturer to replace your
processor.

First, always check your
headpiece and sound cord. We found with our son’s CI processor that the
intermittent beeping was caused more often than not, by a bad sound
cord. With the headpiece on his head, we tested this out by just jiggling the
cord to see if that caused the processor to beep. If so, we replaced it
with a new sound cord which usually resolved the problem.

On other occasions, we found
our son’s processor constantly beeping and flashing red while the headpiece was
on his head. This could mean the headpiece doesn’t have a good connection
with the implant. The easiest way to test for this problem is by
switching out the headpiece to see if that resolves the problem.

We have also experienced our
son’s processor randomly shutting off and other times the power light turned
red with a long continuous beep or flashed red several times before shutting
off. After going through the aforementioned troubleshooting procedures,
we thought something was wrong with the processor. However; after replacing the
old rechargeable batteries with new ones, the processors began to
work. Sometimes when a rechargeable battery is showing it’s charged, we
think it is good to use, but this is not always the case. Over time
rechargeable batteries will lose their ability to power your cochlear
implant processor, even though the charger shows the batteries are fully charged
and ready to use.

When it comes to issues with
cochlear implant processors not working properly, try checking the following
items first as it may save you time and expense.

Batteries

Sound Cord

Headpiece

If you have experienced similar problems or other
issues with your CI processors, we invite you to share your tips.

#cochlearimplants

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